France does not want Asia to choose sides in global competition, ambassador to Singapore says

(This Feb. 18 story has been corrected to change the date to May 30, in paragraph 4)

By Xinghui Kok

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The new French ambassador to Singapore said on Monday that France and Europe do not want their Asian partners to have to choose between the United States and China.

Stephen Marchisio, who took office on Tuesday, said France sees increasing pressure, "maybe more on the U.S. side", that partners in Asia must make a choice.

"It's very important to say we can talk to everybody," he said. "We don't want anyone to choose."

Marchisio was speaking to journalists at a luncheon in Singapore, where French President Emmanuel Macron will deliver the keynote address on May 30 at Asia's largest security meeting.

Marchisio said the president will insist during his address that each state in the region can defend its own interests.

"You can do that even if you disagree with the Chinese political model. And you can do that even if you don't want a military base from the U.S. on your soil," he said.

The U.S. embassy in Singapore referred questions to the G7 statement signed in Munich by France and the United States, which said all members were committed to "a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region".

EUROPE MUST UNITE

Marchisio also said Europe must stand united - including possibly avoiding U.S. weapons purchases - in the wake of incendiary remarks from members of the Trump administration in Munich in recent days.

He said that some countries saw defence-related purchases as a way to gain favour with the U.S. government during the first Trump administration, but that views had changed now, especially after Vice President J.D. Vance's confrontational comments about Europe in Munich at a security conference.

"What happened in Munich? He tries to attack the very core of democracies," Marchisio said. "So it triggers another level of questions."

Now European countries might not buy American military hardware, he continued, because there was no guarantee that doing so would ease U.S. pressure or antagonistic rhetoric.

"We don't like to say that, but ... we will retaliate if we have to," he said, referring to tariffs and other U.S. pressure.

Marchisio added that the best-case scenario is that Europe does not need to retaliate, as the United States and European countries have many shared interests and industries.

Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen said at the Munich conference that Asia's image of America had shifted.

"The image has changed from liberator to great disruptor to a landlord seeking rent," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gerry Doyle; Editing by Neil Fullick)